Now, some of my more pretentious film reactions may give the impression that I’m keen on films that do well in Cannes and get long-worded reviews in Sight and Sound. By and large, I find most of this sort of film tedious and a bit up themselves
And here’s a case in point. Is it a gangster film? Is it an extended love story? Is it an extended metaphor for neoliberal China? Does anyone know or care? It definitely is one of those films with extended scenes of two people having a long conversation in a greenish room where neither of them looks at the other.
It is, of course, beautifully shot, as this sort of film tends to be. It is also probably well acted (watching Chinese actors speak with German voices often wrongfoots me on this). But I’m not sure that’s enough.
Admission: I normally write these random thoughts directly after I’ve seen a film. This time I sneaked a peak at a couple of reviews just to check what it was I actually saw. Apparently it was full of subtle references to other films that I haven’t seen. And apparently this is a good thing.
File under Leviathan (which despite loads of good reviews and awards, I thought was a heap of élitist tosh).
CinePhil 